Academy of excellence

The Aim

Pro Touch SA (PTSA) has been set up to deliver two key agendas:

The first is to help, support and encourage potential young, gifted and talented football players. PTSA wants to create and give opportunities for these young people to access “the bridge and experience to professional football”;

The second aim is to work under the Pro Touch Community (PTC) umbrella towards the Government’s five key points:

Be healthy

Stay safe

Enjoy and achieve

Make a positive contribution

Achieve economic well-being

The Academy and Community organisations also want to highlight the issue of increasing youth and sports participation among those who may not have access to, or interest in, a team or individual activity. The Academy and Community target age group is young people between 4-16 years who live or study within London boroughs including Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Westminster just to name a few. The Academy and Community coaching and management staff and volunteers will work with representatives from local schools, youth and community organisations - teachers, mentors and youth workers - to recruit young people for both Academy and Community programmes.

The Objective

The Academy and Community will work very closely with the young people and improve their individual needs by developing programmes which will enhance and strengthen their weaknesses and overall football/sports potential. This will involve a variety of topics and workshops such as fitness, intensive exercise, anti-racism, drugs awareness, culture and attitude, along with informal education within the field of sports. This will hopefully give some of the less confident young people the self esteem and belief that sports can be played by anyone and everyone within a safe and enjoyable environment.

The Academy will arrange professional youth academy trial in-house matches within England. But it will also make individual referrals for those who show exceptional talent ahead of their peers. This will enable the young people to showcase the Academy team as well as their individual abilities, which they have received coaching for through the PTSA. The PTSA management will then follow up any interest from the professional clubs and arrange for the young person to go for a trial. The Academy senior management and mentors will also monitor their progress by liaising with the professional clubs’ coaching staff and management.